Haven't been back to blighty in 3 years so I'm getting all excited. I rang my Mum last night to ask her to get some of the stuff I miss over here - Weetabix, Marmite, Tesco's Curry (I kid you not) and Ambrosia Rice Pudding.
The nice co-incidence about the upcoming visit is that it's in the middle of the World Cup. I'm sure I'll be down the pub with my brother-in-law to watch some of the games (he's an Arsenal fan but I try not to hold that against him - big Spurs fan me!).
My wife wants to go to Stonehenge (don't ask me why) so I'm sure the whole family will trek down there - stare blankly at some big rocks for 5 minutes and then leave :-) There's something about Americans and wanting to see Stonehenge. I really couldn't care less - perhaps it's a "Brit" thing??
Now, remembering how to drive on the "correct" side of the road ought to be a good laugh :-)
I've never heard of the last two, but I've seen Weetabix and Marmite at the grocery stores here in Albuquerque -- which does not have a large British population, by any stretch of the imagination.
Re:expat items
ziggy on 2002-05-23T16:57:52
I see weetabix occasionally. For some strange reason, Marmite isn't that difficult to find in the US. It's certainly not common, but even in the burbs you're likely to find half a dozen small jars tucked away in some supermarket aisle. In the cities it's harder to find because there are so many smaller groceries that just don't have a great deal of stock. Must have a high profit per shelf foot with a long shelf life...Vegemite, on the other hand, is more difficult to find in general, but easy to find in the gourmet/whole foods sort of store. Promite, on the other hand, never seems to make it across the pond. I think I've seen a jar of that stuff exactly once, and that wasn't in the western hemisphere.
Re:expat items
koschei on 2002-05-24T00:34:41
Vegemite in a gourmet section? My gods, what were they thinking?
(posting from the land down under)Re:expat items
vek on 2002-05-24T05:15:24
I haven't seen Vegemite here in the US as yet but in England (as far as I recall - it's been a few years now) I found Vegemite in the gourmet section of certain "health food" shops.Re:expat items
koschei on 2002-05-24T05:25:05
You know how Vegemite (and others) are like emacs/vi - you either love them or hate them? I'm in the "cannot stand the foul taste of Vegemite" camp.
Hence my horror at finding it in a 'gourmet' section.
Here in Australia, it doesn't seem to be much of problem finding Vegemite (understandably), Marmite or Promite in your average supermarket.
Still won't buy any. =)
Re:expat items
ziggy on 2002-05-24T15:54:47
That's 'gourmet', as in 'expensive imported food that you generally won't find produced in the US of A'.... Hence my horror at finding it in a 'gourmet' section. :-) Re:expat items
vek on 2002-05-23T19:38:36
Hmm, I've never seen Weetabix here in Phoenix (and trust me - I've looked!). I did find Marmite once at a tiny little "specialty" grocery shop - but it went out of business about 2 weeks later and I've yet to find anywhere else.
Tesco's are a supermarket chain in England and they make (or used to at least) a rather good can of Curry if I do say so myself.
As for Ambrosia Rice Pudding, picture a bowl of thick creamy milk with rice added. I know it sounds awful but it's really bloody good:-)
So you can bring back a boatload of stuff. I'm wondering what I will miss from the US when I'm in
Enjoy the visit home, 3 years is too long. And if your wife is a yank, forgive her the stonehenge trip as it's always hard to think of the places you grew up as tourist-worthy excursions
